MAL 


THE  LIBRAE  OF  WE 

DEC  9.-193 

iWERSlTY  OF  iLLiNOlS 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  QUARTERLY 

Published  by  the  Illinois  State  Normal  University,  Normal,  Illinois 

Series  3  October,  1904  Number  13 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings. 


In  the  preface  to  his  excellent  book,  Principles  of  Agriculture, 
Bailey  says,  "A  book  like  this  should  be  used  only  by  persons  who 
know  how  to  observe.  The  starting  point  in  the  teaching  of  agricul- 
ture is  nature  study."  Again  he  says,  "The  purpose  of  [agricultural] 
education  is  often  misunderstood  by  both  teachers  and  farmers.  Its 
purpose  is  to  improve  the  farmer,  not  the  farm.    If  the  person  is 

aroused,  the  farm  is  likely  to  be  awakened If  the  educated 

farmer  raises  no  more  wheat  or  cotton  than  his  uneducated  neighbor, 
his  education  is  nevertheless  worth  the  cost,  for  his  mind  is  open  to  a 
thousand  influences  of  which  the  other  knows  nothing.  One's  happi- 
ness depends  less  on  bushels  of  corn  than  on  entertaining  thoughts." 
It  is  evident  that  no  amount  of  agricultural  precept  will  reveal  to  an 
unobservant  man  what  is  going  on  about  him.  Our  first  duty,  there- 
fore, plainly  lies  in  teaching  how  to  see,  how  to  reason  from  what  is 
seen,  and  to  love  and  appreciate  natural  things.  This  is  nature  study, 
and  the  training  it  gives  is  good  for  living  as  well  as  for  farming.  It 
is  to  set  forth  this  relation  of  nature  study  to  agriculture  and  life, 
and  to  call  attention  to  the  desirability  and  practicability  of  ex- 
tending its  influence  thruout  our  Illinois  schools,  that  this  paper  is 
written. 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


The  Bureau  of  Statistics  shows  that  the  value  of  the  principal 
agricultural  crops  in  the  United  States  during  1903  was  $3,200- 
000,000,  while  that  of  all  manufactured  articles  was  less  than  one 
billion  dollars.  This  indicates  that  over  75  per  cent  of  our  creative 
livelihood  still  comes  from  the  farm,  from  intimate  contact  with 
plants  and  with  the  soil.  Nowadays  we  hear  much  of  an  education 
for  the  life  that  one  is  to  live.  Yet  the  cultivation  of  intelligence 
directly  necessary  to  maintain  this  tremendous  industrial  activity  is 
dependent  upon  a  few  agricultural  colleges,  experiment  station  bul- 
letins, and  institute  instructors,  plus  the  precarious  transmission  of 
methods  from  father  to  son.  That  this  is  far  from  adequate  is  shown 
on  every  hand.  The  farmer  boy  doesn't  like  to  spend  the  money  nec- 
essary to  take  him  to  college.  The  bulletins  are  ineffective  because 
he  doesn't  understand  experimental  methods  and  because  he  is  often 
unfamiliar  with  the  objects  considered,  altho  they  may  be  surround- 
ing him  daily.  The  consequence  is  that  thousands  of  men  go  on, 
daily  and  yearly  repeating  mistakes  that  might  easily  be  corrected 
if  they  only  knew  of  the  available  literature  and  could  really 
read  it. 

The  failures  and  losses  due  to  this  destructive  ignorance  are 
enormous.  In  our  own  state,  according  to  Professor  Forbes,  "The 
insects  alone  probably  derive  as  large  a  profit  from  the  agriculture 
as  do  the  farmers  themselves.  They  cost  us  at  least  half  as  much  as 
the  whole  system  of  public  schools,  and  a  very  large  percentage  of 
this  great  loss  might  certainly  be  prevented,  if  we  could  bring 
the  economic  facts  of  this  one  department  into  the  store  of  common 
knowledge  at  the  command  of  every  pupil  in  town  and  country 
school.  That  we  fall  far  short  of  this  requirement  is  evident.  The 
Hessian  fly  is  not  known  at  sight  in  the  adult  stage  or  in  the  main 
features  of  its  biography  to  one  in  hundreds  of  those  who  suffer 
pitifully  from  its  ravages/'  He  might  have  said  the  same  thing 
about  the  codlin-moth,  the  army  worm,  the  May  beetle,  and  sev- 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings, 


eral  other  ravenous  insects.  It  is  conservatively  estimated  that  a 
tenth  of  all  our  crops  is  lost  to  insects — a  yearly  loss  that  would 
make  millionaires  of  more  than  three  hundred  of  us  per  year — not 
to  mention  their  influence  in  the  conveyance  of  disease  and  of  un- 
happiness  generally. 

On  the  other  hand  if  we  look  into  the  lives  of  another  group  of 
our  animal  contemporaries  and  recall  the  record  of  Professor  Tread- 
weir's  young  robins,  which  daily  required  their  own  weight  of  insects 
to  prevent  actual  starvation ;  and  if  we  recall  the  calculations  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  to  the  effect  that  every  toad  in  our 
garden  is  worth  $19.80  per  season,  because  of  the  insects,  cabbage 
"worms"  and  slugs  that  it  eats,  we  may  begin  to  see  the  value  of  dis- 
criminating between  our  friends  and  foes,  of  seeking  out  and  encour- 
aging the  one,  among  birds  and  insects  and  every  living  thing,  and 
of  discouraging  the  other.  Who  will  care  if  the  robin  does  take  a  few 
cherries  later  in  the  season,  when  he  knows  what  a  powerful  ally  it 
has  been  in  protecting  the  crops  against  possibly  pints  of  voracious 
insect  larvae  ?  And  yet  we  still  see  the  small  boy  out  on  all  possible 
occasions  stoning  the  toads  or  practising  with  his  new  gun,  and 
improving  his  marksmanship  at  the  expense  of  the  downy  or  the 
hairy  woodpecker  that  never  ate  any  of  his  fruit  but  was  giving  its 
strength  to  ridding  his  apple  tr£es  of  the  codlin-moth  and  destruc- 
tive borers.  And  his  excuse,  when  he  has  one,  is  that  it  was  only  an 
old  sap-sucker. 

But  the  industrial  waste  and  mistaken  effort,  which  thus  di- 
rectly affect  more  than  half  of  our  earning  capacity  as  a  nation, 
are  not  our  only  failings.  Few  people  get  the  pleasure  out  of  life 
that  the  all-wise  Creator  designed  that  they  should.  We  go  thru  too 
much  of  life  with  our  ears  and  eyes  closed.  Why  should  Indiana  be 
now  publicly  urging  its  boys  to  remain  in  the  country  and  shun  the 
city  ?  Why  should  men  be  sending  off  to  mid- Africa  for  plants  and 
shrubs  to  decorate  their  homes,  wasting  their  time  and  money  in  try- 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


ing  to  keep  them  up  in  their  unnatural  surroundings,  when  nearly 
every  road-side  and  woodland  contains  many  of  our  own  plants  that 
are  fully  equal  in  beauty  and  vastly  better  fitted  for  life  here,  but  are 
passed  by  under  the  name  of  weeds  ?  Why  should  many  of  our  inval- 
uable bits  of  natural  scenery  be  continually  torn  up  and  "improved" 
for  financial  purposes  ?  Why  should  it  practically  require  an  armed 
guard  to  prevent  one  of  our  stateliest  and  most  venerable  objects  of 
national  pride,  the  giant  sequoias  in  California,  from  being  splin- 
tered into  pickets  for  grape  arbors  ?  In  most  cases  it  is  because  the 
actual  value  of  the  country  and  of  its  common  familiar  objects  is 
not  known.  Our  education  leads  away  from  the  woods  and  fields  and 
waters,  the  atmosphere  of  our  main  occupation,  instead  of  toward 
them.  In  Forbes's  words  again,  "One's  resources  of  enjoyment  be- 
come so  narrowed  that  he  is  often  an  object  of  pity  when  seen  away 
from  the  city  street.  The  ordinary  tourist  in  our  national  park — one 
of  the  loveliest  spots  on  earth — rushes  from  hot  springs  to  geyser 
and  from  geyser  to  canon  and  away  again  behind  six-horse  teams, 
often  grumbling  then  that  there  is  not  a  locomotive  to  whisk  him 
about;  and  if  he  lingers  at  all  by  that  lovely  wayside,  it  is  only  to 
fish."  To  how  many  of  us  will  these  words  apply  ?  How  many  of  us 
have  uncles  or  cousins  or  at  least  neighbors  who  go  touring  in  just 
this  way,  who  went  thru  the  Chicago  exposition  thus,  and  repeated 
the  performance  at  St.  Louis,  all  because  they  have  lost  the  power  of 
intelligent  enjoyment  of  things  beyond  their  own  little  spheres? 

With  these  industrial  and  esthetic  conditions  of  our  daily  life 
before  us,  the  question  narrows  down  to  how  they  may  best  be  met. 
Very  evidently  this  must  be  thru  the  rising  generation.  The  first 
course  in  our  chimney  must  be  laid  at  the  bottom.  We  need  a  quick- 
ening towards  nature  in  the  country  and  among  the  children,  not 
simply  in  a  few  colleges  and  universities,  and  among  a  few  nature 
lovers  of  the  city.  We  need  something  that  will  keep  us  open-minded 
and  whole-souled;    something  that  will  enable  us  to  become  more 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings. 


effective  citizens  because  more  intelligent  in  our  command  of  those 
forces  relating  to  the  common  things  of  life.  These  functions  and 
more,  we  claim  for  nature  study.  It  gives  the  child  the  means  of 
health;  it  emancipates  him  from  fear  and  superstition;  it  keeps 
his  mind  pure  by  giving  it  a  healthy  and  natural  content;  and,  as 
Professor  Jackman  puts  it,  "It  should  lead  him  to  look  things 
squarely  in  the  face,  to  get  at  genuine  values — neither  over  nor  un- 
der— and  to  be  moral  from  principle." 

To  accomplish  these  results  we  must  keep  our  work  balanced. 
It  is  very  true  that  there  has  been  too  much  fad  and  unattached 
emotion  in  what  has  been  called  nature  study.  But  where  the  subject 
has  been  entered  into  at  all  and  has  become  anything  more  than 
another  cram  and  book  study  with  little  or  no  observation  of  any 
sort,  it  has  been  beset  with  a  new  danger,  that  of  undue  emphasis  on  a 
single  phase,  to  the  detriment  of  many  other  equally  valuable  things. 
The  aim  of  nature  study  is  simple  enough.  Mrs.  Comstock  puts  it, 
"as  primarily  to  cultivate  the  child's  power  of  observation  and  to 
put  him  in  sympathy  with  outdoor  life."  Bailey's  chapter  in  The 
Nature  Study  Idea  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  defines  it  as  an  at- 
tempt to  relate  education  directly  to  the  life  that  the  pupil  is  to  live. 
It  is  to  give  him  an  intelligent  sympathy  with  nature  and  his  en- 
vironment, to  the  end  that  his  life  may  be  stronger  and  more 
resourceful.  Hodge  in  Nature  Study  and  Life  defines  it  as  "learning 
those  things  in  nature  that  are  best  worth  knowing  to  the  end  of 

doing  those  things  that  make  life  most  worth  living What 

things  are  best  worth  knowing  is  [shown]  by  the  relations  toward 
nature  that  the  human  race  has  found  necessary  and  valuable  to 
develop."  These  relations  at  first  are  mainly  biological,  including 
the  mastery  of  animals  and  plants. 

The  keynotes  to  the  first  two  views  are  power  to  see,  and  sym- 
pathy; to  the  third,  the  keynote  is  industrial  improvement;  and  at 
Columbia  University  it  is  apparently  the  educational  value  that 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


is  uppermost.  Each  one  no  doubt  recognizes  the  validity  of  the 
claims  of  the  others,  and  emphasizes  the  most  important  phase 
from  his  point  of  view.  But  from  our  point  of  view,  it  seems  that 
we  should  be  after  all  these  values.  They  are  mutually  bene- 
ficial— symbiotic,  in  technical  terms — and  there  is  danger  of 
losing  the  whole  coalition  if  we  emphasize  one  of  the  symbionts 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  others.  The  man  who  pins  his  faith  to 
any  single  phase  will  fail  to  get  permanent  results.  Bringing  this 
to  earth,  it  follows  that  a  boy  is  not  likely  even  to  begin  raising 
chickens,  much  less  to  become  proficient  in  it3  unless  he  becomes 
interested  in  the  life  of  the  chicken,  knows  something  of  its  rela- 
tions to  comfort  and  disease,  and  sees  the  advantage  of  putting 
his  ideas  into  practice. 

As  to  what  we  should  study  in  nature  work,  we  say  the  whole 
natural  environment  within  the  reach  of  the  child.  Everything 
the  Creator  has  made  is  worthy  of  our  serious  and  continued  study. 
That  was  the  idea  that  controlled  Agassiz  and  that  has  controlled 
all  his  famous  pupils  to  this  day.  And  we  have  done  a  great  thing 
if  we  can  impress  the  child  with  this  fact.  He  will  never  be  out  of 
something  to  do.  Of  course,  in  the  limited  time  of  the  classroom, 
selections  must  be  made  bringing  out  the  best  that  is  in  the  en- 
vironment; but  they  should  be  clearly  seen  as  only  selections,  and 
by  no  means  the  only  objects  worthy  of  our  attention.  The  work 
should  fit  the  season  and  locality,  have  definite  trend,  and  run  at 
least  thru  one  year,  or  thru  all  the  grades.  We  would  make  the 
emphasis  largely  biological  in  the  fall,  meteorological  and  physical 
in  the  winter,  and  geological  and  agricultural  in  the  spring;  the 
bearing  upon  the  needs  of  actual  life  always  being  considered.  The 
character  of  the  agricultural  work  has  been  well  presented  by  Presi- 
dent Felmley  in  the  Normal  School  Quarterly  for  January,  1903. 
This  work  should  give  scientific  insight  into  the  fundamental  farm 
processes.   We  believe  with  Bailey  that  it  is  the  fundamentals  and 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings, 


principles  of  farming  instead  of  the  incidentals  that  should  get 
first  attention.  We  do  not  care  to  sew  on  the  buttons  before  cutting 
out  the  garment.  We  should  show  the  why's  and  how's  of  soil  tillage, 
of  plant  propagation  and  growth,  and  of  animal  husbandry.  The 
school  garden  makes  the  proper  laboratory  for  the  first  two  phases, 
and  will  be  abundantly  serviceable  if  properly  used.  But  without  a 
little  of  the  theory  and  of  the  understanding  mind  back  of  the  rak- 
ing and  planting  there  is  a  question  as  to  whether  work  in  the 
garden  should  not  fall  in  the  athletic  department,  instead  of  in 
the  academic. 

In  biological  nature  work,  the  fundamental  principle  is  the 
study  of  the  whole  life  of  the  organism.  Processes,  activities,  rela- 
tions to  environment  and  to  man,  ready  recognition  of  friends 
and  foes  with  proper  remedial  measures,  constitute  some  of  the 
minor  objective  points.  But  following  out  the  main  principle,  we 
find  rich  fields  that  are  being  neglected  in  the  less  complete  plans 
of  work. 

The  whole  life  of  plants  means  from  seed  to  seed,  their  winter 
aspects  as  well  as  their  summer,  and  includes  the  wild  as  well  as 
the  domesticated  forms.  We  don't  wish  to  study  plants  merely 
when  they  are  at  their  best,  in  the  height  of  summer  and  of  flower. 
We  can't  sympathize  with  things  until  we  know  something  of  their 
vicissitudes,  something  of  the  struggle  by  which  they  meet  this  or 
that  assailant.  As  Mrs.  Comstock  says,  "To  study  plants  only  when 
in  blossom  is  like  speaking  to  your  friends  only  when  they  are 
dressed  up."  We  are  likely  to  miss  the  most  interesting  phases 
anyhow,  unless  we  see  the  plant  thru  at  least  one  year.  The  individ- 
uality maintained  in  meeting  the  various  conditions  of  the  year 
is  remarkable.  Take  the  one  phase,  the  winter  condition  of  our 
woody  plants.  To  many  people,  buds  exist  only  in  the  spring,  and 
trees  stand  thru  the  winter  all  alike,  merely  leafless  specters.  But  a 
closer  view  shows  such  difference  of  buds  and  twigs,  in  color,  shape, 


The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


covering  and  arrangement,  as  to  enable  them  easily  to  be  separated 
into  genera  and  in  nearly  all  cases  into  species.  In  my  own  work  on 
willows — one  of  the  bugbears  of  botany — I  was  able  to  make  out 
clearer  and  surer  distinctions  to  the  twenty-three  species  growing 
around  Ithaca,  N".  Y.,  than  I  have  yet  found  in  their  summer  as- 
pects. The  same  success  is  being  achieved  by  Dr.  Foxworthy  and 
Dr.  Wiegand  of  Cornell,  who  are  using  winter  characters  in  the 
production  of  a  complete  key  to  our  woody  plants. 

But  our  work  on  plants  must  not  end  with  simple  observation. 
Observation  is  only  the  first  step  in  knowing,  and  it  demands  sup- 
plement by  experiment,  comparison,  generalization  and  deductive 
verification.  Experiment  should  be  used  freely.  The  pupil  must  be 
stimulated  to  develop  skill  and  ability  in  growing  and  propagating 
plants  and  in  the  art  of  making  them  comfortable.  That  is  what  it 
all  should  lead  to  anyhow.  We  need  more  public  benefactors  in  the 
Horace  Greeley  sense, — those  who  can  make  two  blades  of  grass 
grow  where  only  one  grew  before. 

The  same  principle  holds  in  the  study  of  animals.  To  study 
an  animal  in  a  single  stage  for  a  small  part  of  a  single  day,  is 
nearly  the  limit  of  inadequacy.  We  know  far  too  little  of  the  wild 
life  around  us.  We  hardly  know  what  animals  should,  and  what 
should  not  be  exterminated,  much  less  how.  We  ought  to  know 
the  whole  life  stories  of  our  animal  contemporaries,  wild  and  do- 
mestic, their  origin  upon  the  earth  when  possible,  the  outlines  of 
their  history  in  it,  and  especially  what  they  are  doing  around  us 
now  both  in  winter  and  summer.  It  is  only  the  complete  picture 
that  will  satisfy  or  that  will  enable  us  to  cope  intelligently  with  our 
enemies  and  we  should  rest  with  nothing  short  of  it. 

This  plan  makes  us  investigators.  It  organizes  our  work.  It 
puts  the  textbook  where  it  belongs — a  thing  to  be  used  whenever  it 
will  further  our  inquiries,  and  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  getting 
the  living  animals  where  they  can  be  kept  under  observation.   We 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings,  9 

must  form  collections.  We  must  make  aquaria  and  terraria,  and 
stock  them  with  living  forms,  making  the  occupants  as  comfortable 
and  putting  them  as  nearly  into  natural  conditions  as  possible.  We 
should  form  permanent  collections  to  show  the  life  histories,  samples 
of  work,  and  the  relations  to  environment  of  our  native  forms.  It  is 
no  easy  task  to  do  this.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  a  good  col- 
lection, as  well  as  of  other  things.  But  if  properly  used  its  value 
cannot  be  over-estimated.  A  child  will  read  about  the  transforma- 
tions of  insects  and  even  look  at  their  pictures  until  he  can  recite 
them  backwards  and  forwards,  all  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  just 
place  a  set  of  forms,  from  egg  to  adult,  before  him  and  tell  him  that 
these  things  are  all  the  same  insect,  and  note  the  wonder  that  spreads 
over  his  face,  and  the  animated  questions  that  spring  up  in  the 
presence  of  the  actual  things.  Our  samples  of  work,  in  these  collec- 
tions, should  make  clear  our  friends  and  foes.  We  can  show  insects 
and  their  destroyed  vegetation,  injured  wood,  grain,  fruit,  meat,  fur 
and  cloth;  and  on  the  other  hand  we  can  show  them  as  friends, 
scavengers,  "cannibals,"  and  slayers  of  injurious  forms.  This  work 
need  not  stop  with  insects.  The  earthworm  with  it  cocoon  and  effect 
on  soil;  reptiles  and  their  eggs;  birds  with  nests  and  eggs,  to  a 
limited  extent;  and  toads,  frogs,  and  other  Amphibia  are  full  of 
interest  and  their  doings  should  be  known. 

The  imitation  of  the  natural  conditions  of  animals  is  impor- 
tant in  several  ways.  One  never  knows  what  he  is  going  to  discover 
when  he  starts  out  to  imitate  an  animal's  surroundings.  I  suppose 
I  had  always  known,  e.  g.,  that  a  toad  had  a  warty,  granular,  and 
dirty  looking  back.  But  of  what  use  such  a  back  could  be  to  him 
was  never  clear,  until  our  specimen  began  to  hibernate  and  to 
gradually  sink  away  into  the  sand  of  a  terrarium.  When  he  got 
down  on  a  level  with  the  surface  he  stopped,  and  there  was  never 
a  better  imitation  of  a  sandy  surface  than  that  back  presented. 
Our  toad  could  sit  there  and  blink  away,  seeing  without  being 


10  The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 

seen,  occasionally  pouncing  out  to  catch  a  last  straying  insect  be- 
fore taking  his  winter  nap,  and  altogether  presenting  about  as 
comfortable  and  as  unexpected  an  example  of  protective  resem- 
blance as  I  have  ever  seen.  Many  caterpillars,  katydids  and  grass- 
hoppers can  also  be  made  much  more  valuable  for  study  if  rnjounted 
to  show  their  protective  colorations. 

Much  effective  experimental  work  can  be  brought  to  the  aid 
of  the  observation  here,  as  well  as  in  plants.  We  can  test  the 
strength  and  athletic  powers  of  insects;  the  action  of  kerosene 
upon  young  mosquitoes,  the  effect  of  poison  in  checking  insect  rav- 
ages ;  or  we  may  try  to  settle  the  question  as  to  why  the  earthworms 
are  so  plentiful  after  a  rain,  by  testing  their  reactions  to  light,  tem- 
perature, and  moisture ;  or  the  question  whether  the  fish  swims  with 
fins  or  tail,  by  the  use  of  rubber  bands . 

Excellent  individual  investigations  may  be  carried  on  and  re- 
ported in  short  essays  on  local  topics,  along  the  lines  suggested  in 
Needham/s  Outdoor  Studies.  Also  bulletins  showing  the  investiga- 
tions of  others  may  be  reviewed  and  reported  on  from  time  to  time, 
including  such  topics  as  "The  relation  of  mosquitoes  to  health," 
"Kelation  of  birds  to  agriculture,"  "Structure  of  the  corn  kernels," 
"Corn  breeding,"  and  "Maintenance  of  fertility  in  Illinois  soils." 

These  investigations  and  reviews  are  generally  eye-openers. 
It  is  remarkable  what  can  be  learned  at  our  very  doorsteps.  When 
a  bit  of  feverfew  will  reveal  ants  and  aphids  and  ladybugs  and 
aphis-lions  robbing,  killing,  fleeing,  hiding,  protecting,  defending, 
and  rewarding  each  other  with  all  the  earnestness  of  a  life  and 
death  struggle,  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  to  the  wilds  of  Africa,  or 
even  to  the  World's  Fair,  to  get  something  to  see  and  wonder  at. 
Yet  just  these  things  and  much  more  are  what  did  take  place  sum- 
mer before  last  at  our  doorstep,  and  probably  at  thousands  of  others 
thruout  the  country. 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings.  11 

Meager  as  our  knowledge  of  the  common  wild  animals  is,  the 
situation  is  not  much  improved  when  we  turn  to  the  domestic  side. 
In  spite  of  the  intimate  daily  contact  with  many  of  our  domesti- 
cated animals,  how  much  do  we  really  know  about  them?  How 
many  of  us  have  even  a  fairly  complete  and  accurate  picture  of 
them  as  they  originated  and  lived  in  the  past?  as  they  live  now  upon 
the  earth?  What  native  traits  and  capacities  enabled  them  to  suc- 
ceed in  the  wild  where  so  many  others  failed  ?  What  attracted  man 
to  their  aid  and  use?  What  objectionable  traits  have  been  elimi- 
nated? What  are  their  present  uses  and  breeds,  over  the  earth; 
and  how  have  they  been  produced?  How  should  they  be  fed  and 
cared  for?  How  many  of  us  know  the  majority  of  these  things 
concerning  even  one  domestic  animal?  Yet  this  is  only  a  part  of 
what  Professor  Forbes  believes  the  study  of  our  domestic  animals 
should  bring  out.  If  this  plan  is  applied  to  the  horse,  ox,  sheep, 
cat,  dog,  pig,  chicken,  and  turkey,  it  is  evident  that  abundant  work 
of  a  kind  very  near  home,  will  be  provided.  To  illustrate  its  work- 
ings we  present  a  brief  outlined  study  of  our  most  important  domes- 
tic animal,  the  ox.  This  study  is  a  modification  of  some  work  done 
under  Forbes  and  Davenport  at  the  University  of  Illlinois,  and  the 
sources  used  were  the  works  of  Schmeil,  Darwin,  Geikie,  and  Ly- 
deker,  together  with  stock  records.  This  is  an  excellent,  practical 
field  for  investigation  and  essay  work  by  some  of  the  older  pupils 
for  report  to  the  class. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  OX. 

Far  back  in  the  past  before  there  were  any  people ;  before  the 
ice-sheets  had  swept  down  from  the  North ;  while  mastodons,  colos- 
sal ruminants,  fierce  carnivora,  and  troops  of  rhinoceroses  and  ele- 
phants held  sway;  when  it  would  have  been  really  dangerous  to 
try  to  live ;  in  those  times  which  geologists  call  the  Pliocene  period, 
there  appeared  in  Europe  a  huge,  massive,  light-colored  wild  ox.   It 


12  The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 

appears  to  have  sprung  from  a  race  of  large  antelopes,  and  it  was 
apparent  from  the  first  that  it  was  going  to  make  no  mean  race  in 
the  struggle  for  life.  With  its  keen  sense  of  sight,  smell  and  hear- 
ing, the  dimmed  traces  of  which  remain  today  in  the  elongated, 
horizontal  pupils  of  eyes  once  bright  and  beady,  in  the  large,  moist 
nostrils,  and  in  the  trumpet-shaped  movable  ears,  it  was  not  easily 
surprised.  When  once  at  bay  it  plied  its  sharp  horns  often  fifty 
inches  in  span,  with  a  powerful  neck  and  massive  strength  not 
soon  to  be  forgotten.  Its  divided  stomach  and  rough,  muscular 
tongue  unimpeded  by  upper  teeth  in  front,  enabled  it  to  sweep  in 
its  food  with  great  rapidity  and  then  rush  back  from  the  open 
places  to  chew  it  in  hiding  and  at  rest,  thus  saving  exposure, 
energy,  and  amount  of  food  required  to  live. 

But  this  met  only  its  animal  assailants.  Those  more  in- 
sistent dangers  of  the  cold,  the  storm,  the  treacherous  swamp  and 
miry  salt  lick  and  stream  were  upon  it.  It  met  the  cold  with  a 
heavy  coat  of  hair,  the  storm  with  a  leathery  skin,  and  the  mire 
with  a  cloven  hoof — a  most  ingenious  device — the  two  toes  spread- 
ing apart  when  entering  the  mud  and  closing  again  when  lifted, 
avoided  the  suction  so  dangerous  to  the  piston-like  hoof  of  the 
horse. 

By  the  time  man  appeared  upon  the  earth,  our  ox  had  grown 
great  in  numbers  as  well  as  in  individuals.  Man  found  him  roam- 
ing the  forests  and  plains  from  Britain  to  Greece  in  great  wild 
droves,  and  immediately  gave  chase.  The  flint  hatchets  and 
pierced  skulls  of  the  peat  bogs  tell  the  story.  These  prehistoric 
hunters  were  after  meat.  To  them  this  Aurochs  or  Urus,  as  it  was 
called,  was  a  manufacturer,  a  transformer  of  materials  intrinsically 
worthless — grass,  weeds,  twigs,  and  leaves — into  most  excellent 
food  and  clothing  for  man.  And  this  has  been  our  attitude  ever 
since.  This  brought  man  to  the  ox,  first  as  an  enemy,  then,  to  pre- 
vent extermination,  as  a  friend.     This  it  is  that  makes  the  ox 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings.  13 

our  most  important  domestic  animjal,  and  the  one  probably  last 
to  be  given  up,  as  the  competition  for  the  world's  supply  of  plant 
food  increases. 

How  the  ox  has  changed  under  man's  hand,  how  it  has  broken  up 
into  breeds  so  distinct  as  to  appear  of  different  origins,  how  its 
uses  have  been  increased  and  differentiated  in  the  various  parts  of 
the  world,  are  matters  of  record.  In  answer  to  the  first  we  will  note 
only  the  securing  of  quicker  development,  the  reduction  and  even 
removal  of  horns,  as  in  the  Polled  Durhams  and  others,  and  the 
extension  and  increase  of  the  milk  flow — 110  pounds  per  day  be- 
ing the  record. 

Its  present  uses  upon  the  earth  vary  from  the  utter  indiffer- 
ence of  the  Chinese  to  the  almost  complete  bondage  of  the  many 
Swiss  and  Dutch  families  who  depend  on  their  cow  for  nearly  every- 
thing. Between  these  extremes  there  are  all  intermediate  grades. 
It  is  still  a  game  animal  in  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa;  a  pack 
animal  among  the  Filipinos;  a  traction  animal  with  the  Hunga- 
rians ;  a  milk  producer  on  a  small  scale  among  the  Italians,  where 
a  single  cow  and  calf  constitute  a  street  dairy;  an  object  of  wor- 
ship among  the  people  of  India;  a  milk  and  cheese  producer 
among  the  Dutch  and  Swiss,  giving  us  our  breeds  of  Holstein- 
Friesian  and  Brown  Swiss  cattle;  and  finally  a  beef -animal  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  (who  also  cares  somewhat  for  milk),  giving  us  our 
Shorthorns,  Herefords,  Anguses,  Galloways  and  others.  But  our 
packing  houses  do  not  stop  here.  Even  the  hair,  horns,  bones,  and 
hoofs  are  put  to  service.  The  hair  is  made  into  felt  boots  and  mat- 
tresses, the  horns  into  combs,  buttons,  knife  handles  and  orna- 
ments ;  and  the  bones  into  knife  handles  and  fertilizers. 

The  method  of  properly  caring  for  cattle,  the  uses  and  mixing 
of  balanced  rations,  the  bases  for  judging  dairy  and  beef  cattle,  and 
the  status  of  "residual  milking"  carry  us  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
paper,  and  can  be  better  obtained  from  agricultural  bulletins.   But 


14  The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 

if  enough  has  been  given  to  show  the  availability  of  our  domestic 
animals  merely  as  an  animal  study,  and  especially  if  this  indicates 
a  way  to  get  the  country  boy  to  take  more  pride  in  his  work,  to  get 
a  better  understanding  of  it  and  consequently  to  become  a  more 
effective  worker  in  the  world,  our  efforts  will  have  been  abundantly 
repaid. 


We  have  now  discussed  why  nature  should  be  studied;  we 
have  shown  its  relation  to  agricultural  teaching,  something  of  what 
it  should  include,  something  of  the  principles  that  should  guide  us 
in  its  organization  and  presentation ;  and  it  remains  for  us  to  con- 
sider where  it  should  be  taught.  Industrially  speaking  this  last 
question  is  self-answering.  The  all-important  place  for  nature 
study  is  in  the  country  school;  and  the  farmers  are  beginning  to 
find  it  out.  But  why  those  schools  are  not  yet  doing  their  full  duty  is 
due  to  two  facts.  The  teachers  are  not  yet  awake  to  the  importance  of 
the  movement ;  and  when  they  do  awake  they  are  already  so  crowded 
with  recitations  that  they  can't  determine  either  what  to  do  or  how 
to  do  it.  The  first  part  of  our  problem  then  is  to  reach  the  teacher, 
and  since  he  is  so  often  the  product  of  his  own  school  this  is  not 
easy  to  do.  We  have  to  reach  the  rising  generation  thru  one  that  is 
nearly  always  an  imimediate  offshoot  of  that  generation.  The  open- 
ing of  the  country  schools  to  the  elements  of  natural  science  has 
been  a  problem  in  our  state  ever  since  the  founding  of  this  Normal 
School.  It  was  because  of  it  that  the  science  requirement  was 
added  to  teachers'  certificates  in  1872,  but  a  year  later  was  repealed 
from  the  second  grade,  thus  defeating  its  purpose.  Its  solution 
demands  continual  pegging  away  at  the  doors  of  our  country 
schools;  and  the  vast  increase  in  nature  literature,  papers  like 
Country  Life,  paid  lecturers  on  agricultural  education,  and  the 
national  movement  nature-ward,  all  point  to  the  speedy  opening  of 
those  doors. 


Nature  Study  in  its  Practical  Bearings.  15 

The  second  part  of  the  problem — what  to  do  in  these  schools, 
and  how,  is  dependent  upon  knowledge.  The  teachers  hesitate  to 
take  up  a  new  study,  and  we  are  ready  to  admit  that  to  bring  out 
the  real  possibilities  of  the  subject  is  no  holiday  task.  Like  other 
things  of  value  it  is  not  going  to  come  without  some  work.  But  if 
the  facts  were  really  known,  of  how  much  can  be  done  with  jars 
and  aquaria,  simple  insect  cages,  tin  cans,  window  boxes  and  a 
garden  strip;  with  the  aid  of  a  few  good  books  like  those  of  Corn- 
stock,  Hodge,  Bailey,  King,  Hemenway,  Keeler  and  Chapman; 
and  without  a  single  set  lesson  in  school  hours,  by  merely  turn- 
ing loose  the  instinctive  love  of  collecting  and  of  doing,  on  the  part 
of  the  pupils ;  if  the  teachers  could  see  how  the  nature  study  spirit 
is  able  to  change  the  whole  attitude  of  the  school  and  teacher  from 
that  of  "impossible  cram  and  mental  pretense"  to  relations  of 
mutual  helpfulness,  where  all  are  learners  together,  and  it  is  no  dis- 
grace to  say,  "I  don't  know,"  where  questions  continually  arise 
that  "all  the  wise  men  cannot  answer ;"  if  these  things,  I  say,  were 
widely  known,  the  hesitation  would  vanish.  There  is  no  need  of 
adding  a  new  recitation  to  the  school.  In  my  opinion  nothing  will 
kill  the  movement  so  quickly  as  the  cut  and  dried  lesson ;  and  it's  a 
sin  to  try  to  crowd  any  more  recitations  into  the  country  school  pro- 
gram,. But  if  the  work  is  taken  up  in  this  informal  way,  at  any  rate 
in  the  beginning,  and  the  beneficent  influences  of  nature  and  quick- 
ened observation  are  permitted  to  spread  out  over  the  proverbial 
three  E's,  over  the  geography,  and  composition  and  literature,  we 
believe  that  there  will  never  be  a  return  to  the  old  conditions. 


16  The  Normal  School  Quarterly. 


The  Illinois  State  Normal  University 

Offers  to  prospective  teachers  excellent  facilities  for  profes- 
sional study. 

Its  four  chief  programs  of  study  are  adapted  to  students  enter- 
ing with  various  degrees  of  preparation. 

Its  courses  include  all  the  branches  taught  in  elementary  and 
high  schools,  including  vocal  music,  drawing,  manual  training,  and 
nature  study  as  related  to  agriculture. 

Its  library  of  15,000  volumes  is  fully  indexed  for  use  in 
reference. 

Its  museum,  four  laboratories,  and  work  shop  are  well 
equipped  with  new  apparatus. 

Its  training  department  includes  400  pupils  under  eight 
critic  teachers,  and  a  kindergarten  of  forty  children. 

Numerous  elective  higher  courses  are  offered. 

Experienced  teachers  not  wishing  to  complete  the  entire 
course  may  take  special  courses. 

Tuition  is  free  to  all  expecting  to  teach  in  the  schools  of 
Illinois. 

Write  for  catalog. 

David  Felmley,  President.     - 


3  01 12  105727454 


STATIONERY    Co, 

Bloom  in  gtOQj     I1L 


